Dish Network Drops Weather Channel, Starts Service

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Dish Network Corp., the No. 2 U.S.
satellite-TV provider, dropped NBC Universal’s Weather Channel
and started its own service focused on weather coverage.

The network will run 24 hours a day and feature reporting
and interactive forecasts, Englewood, Colorado-based Dish
Network said today in a statement.

Dish said it started its own channel because the Weather
Channel has been adding movies and other entertainment
programming, while moving away from weather reporting. General
Electric Co.’s NBC Universal bought the Weather Channel in 2008
for $3.5 billion with Bain Capital LLC and Blackstone Group LP,
and reduced the value of its stake in the third quarter of 2009.

“Our customers always tell us that the only thing they
want in a weather channel is weather reporting,” Dave Shull,
Dish’s senior vice president for programming, said in the
statement.

Atlanta-based Weather Channel said discussions with Dish
broke off because of price.

“Dish has chosen to be the first distributor to drop the
Weather Channel rather than pay the standard industry rates
others in the industry have already agreed to pay,” the Weather
Channel said in a statement. “We are disappointed with their
decision and hopeful that we can still reach an agreement.”

GE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, lost $1 to $16.26 on
the New York Stock Exchange. Dish fell $1.34 to $20.81 today in
Nasdaq Stock Market trading.